Tuesday, 3 July 2012

Two and a Half Men Season 9: My Thoughts

Okay so this post is probably a bit late in coming but I wanted to
wait until the new series of Two and a Half Men finished before sharing my
opinion. I know that was a couple of weeks ago but… yeah, I procrastinate. I
will add, as well as trying to be a review/my opinion of the new season, this
is also a sort of response to the reviews I’ve already read, which will be
mentioned a few times. There are also spoilers for those who haven’t watched
the entire 9th season yet.

Pros

My other concern was that the character they replaced Charlie with
would be someone exactly like him. I was pleased to see that the new character,
Walden Schmidt, is very different. And though many disagree, I find him to be a
very likeable character and I think that Ashton Kutcher was a good choice for
the role.

I also like the other new characters that have been introduced through
the season. In many of the reviews I’ve read people seem to dislike the
character of Zoe and find her annoying. Although she does have such moments, I
find her to be a good addition to the show and I very much enjoy the rivalry
that has developed between her and Alan. And her daughter is adorable.

Another positive thing about the new season is though it’s had to
alter its plot, it still has a great storyline and is still really funny.
Actually, I think the new storyline is beneficial to the show, I will admit
that while I still loved it, the last series with Charlie was great, but before
that I felt the show was getting a bit repetitive. I think the writers
introduced Walden’s character well all things considered. The storylines
developing throughout this series were great, particularly when it came to
Alan, who has now become my favourite character in the show. I have to admit, I
love seeing him get hurt. At first I wasn’t too sure about the way he’s
developed into conning Walden for money and somewhere to stay, but I quickly
grew to love the way he plots to do it and I can see how he would have developed
into this from previous seasons. I actually used to dislike his character while
somehow still feeling sorry for him, now it’s the opposite – I love him but
whatever happens, good or bad, I enjoy it. Oh, and the grandmothers hooking up
thing was hilarious. The end of the series was a surprise too, with Jake
joining the army, but it was perfect.

Cons

Although I said I liked the new storyline, there are some elements of
it I don’t like. I hadn’t actually considered this point until someone pointed
it out to me, but the show has lost a lot of its original premise. The previous
seasons were very much about Charlie’s drinking and sleeping around with
different women. For the most part, those elements are no longer in the show
and it’s become more like a family sitcom. It has lost a bit of its uniqueness.
I also don’t like that a number of the characters don’t have as much screen
time. With Charlie dead it makes sense that we would see less of Rose but
seeing less of Jake and Berta did upset me a little because they were always my
two favourite characters on the show. I just hope Jake joining the army at the
end of the season doesn’t mean he’ll be seen even less. Over the last couple of
seasons, another part of the storyline I disliked at first was Jake getting
into drugs, although considering all previous seasons of the show it seems like
the logical thing to happen to him. One benefit I now find with it is that it
makes up slightly for the part of the show that was lost with the removal of
Charlie’s character.

Thoughts

When I first found out Charlie’s character was being replaced – people
are going to say I’m not a real fan for this – I really wasn’t that bothered.
Although I liked his character, he was my least favourite of the main cast, and
on top of that though I didn’t necessarily like the idea of him not being on
the show anymore I knew that wasn’t going to change and my main concern was
whether or not the show would be able to continue without him. It reminded me
of the only other show I love that I’ve seen go through a similar
transformation – Scrubs. After the main cast was replaced the show had one more
season and was then cancelled. In that case, though I did like the last season,
it was nowhere as good as the original scrubs, I still liked it generally as a
show so at the time I was sad when it ended (though I do now think Scrubs
should have ended with season 8). Anyway, my main concern was that a similar
thing would happen with Two and a Half Men, with not enough positive response
to continue after this season. So I was very happy when I found out there will
be a tenth.

As it turned out, I really enjoyed this series and I can’t wait for
the next one. I really like the way the plot and characters have developed and
I think the show has coped well with the loss of one of its main characters.
Though it isn’t the exact same show it was before, I think it’s close enough to
say it is still Two and a Half Men.

In conclusion, the new Two and a Half Men, I love it and hope it shall
continue for many seasons more.